What is Accounts?

Within Persona, every Account represents a single instance of an Account type. For example, for a marketplace that users Persona, every end user and seller has a unique account Account.

For example, fictitious end user Alexander J. Sample may go through multiple flows and complete multiple Inquiries while signing up for your company’s app or reverifying himself at various points of the user lifecycle. With Accounts, you can consolidate all Inquiries for Mr. Sample under a single Account.

How Accounts work

The primary function of Accounts is to group Inquiries and interactions by end user.

Accounts serve three main purposes:

1. Reverifications: Information comparison and reverification
2. Passive monitoring: Ability to run continuous reports (e.g. watchlist reports) on an Account over time
3. Consolidated PII and information storage

Create an account in Persona

There are four ways to create Accounts:

1. Automatically when creating an Inquiry: When a new user creates an Inquiry for the first time, Persona automatically creates an Account. If no Account identifier is provided on the Inquiry, one Account will be created for each Inquiry (this is not recommended).
2. Via API: Accounts can be created and populated via API. We recommend creating Accounts via API if you want the information in your inquiry to be compared against information you've already collected from the user. See our technical documentation to get started.
3. Via the Dashboard: An Account can be manually created in the Accounts page in the Dashboard using the "Create account" button. All that's required is a Account identifier; other information can be added as needed once the Account is created.
4. By importing information into Persona: You can import existing information from your own system into Persona as a way to backfill Accounts. See our technical documentation to get started.

Use unique identifiers for Accounts

A unique identifier is a one-of-a-kind label that you can assign to each account to tell it apart from the others. Each account takes two types of unique identifier: Persona assigns an Account ID to each account, while allowing you to add your own Account Identifier to each account from another system.

Account IDs

Generated by Persona

When an account is created in Persona, Persona will assign it an Account ID. This unique ID can be used to identify a specific Account and will appear on all associated inquiries.

Identifiers

Not generated by Persona

Account identifiers are additional unique IDs for Accounts that Persona does not define. This is typically an identifier that you use to separate users in your own system. Reference IDs allow Persona to incorporate your organization’s existing taxonomy as a way of tracking end users.

Add custom properties to Account Types

Custom Statuses

Use Custom Statuses and Tags to easily classify and filter for Accounts.

Custom Status reflects the phase an account is in and may need to be changed as it passes through other stages of the verification process. For example, common custom statuses include Pending Review, Confirmed Fraud, Frozen, etc. An Account will only have one status associated with it at any given time.

Learn more about creating and using custom statuses →

Custom Tags

Tag reflects a characteristic of the account that is unlikely to change in the context of the verification process. For example, “Under 21 years old,” “Non-eligible geo,” “Watchlist match,” etc.

Create a tag

• In the Accounts page of the Dashboard, find an individual Account to tag.
• Find the Tags section at the bottom right section of the account, under Custom Properties.

Edit a Tag

• In the Accounts page of the Dashboard, find an individual Account to tag.
• Click the ••• More dropdown on the top right side of an individual account page.

FAQs

How is information populated in an Account?

Information can be populated in an Account in two ways:

1. If you create an Account via Dashboard or API, you can populate it with specific fields. Learn more about storing data in custom fields.
2. If you do not populate an Account, information from the very first completed Inquiry under that Account will automatically populate the Account.

Can I merge or consolidate Accounts?

Yes, you can consolidate multiple Accounts into one via API. By doing so, you will move all inquiries and reports from the "merged" Accounts into a single destination account. Please see our technical documentation to get started.

Can I edit an existing Account?

Yes. Any field in an Account can be edited. Once you edit the Account, all future inquiries under this Account will compare their information against the updated Account.

How do I edit the fields in an existing Account?

To update the Account information from Dashboard:

1. Go to the Accounts page of the Dashboard and find the individual account you want to edit
2. Click the ••• More dropdown on the top right hand side of the Dashboard
3. Click Update Account
4. Update any information you would like, and click Save

Why would I want to edit an Account?

It's possible that the information on an Account has either changed or was inputted incorrectly. A common example of this would be the first and last name being switched around, or a user incorrectly typing in their date of birth. If the Account information is incorrect and you require information from future inquiries to match against Account information, future inquiries will mismatch and fail.

Can I change how Account information is displayed or organized?

Yes. The layout for each account type can be modified using our layout editor.

Can I link two or more accounts together if they’re part of a group?

Yes. Organizations with multiple account types often need to link accounts together, which can be done by creating a Relation.

For example, a travel company may need to tie individual travel bookings under one group booking ID, so it would create a Relation between the booking Transaction and the user Account type.

What can I do with an Account?

You can make the most of Accounts by setting up and using custom account actions. This guide will teach you how to can run a report, update fields, or add information to a list, using our one-click macros.

How do I redact information from an Account?

You can redact PII from an Account or Inquiry without deleting the account itself, allowing it to continue collecting new information from future inquiries. Please note that once you've redacted information, you cannot reverse this action.

Can I delete or archive an Account?

Yes. When an Account is archived, it is deleted from Persona’s system and can no longer be used. If you would like to archive an Account, please reach out to us at support@withpersona.com.